ENENSYS adds satellite input to its Teamcast Vortex II ATSC 3.0 high-end exciter

ENENSYS Technologies, the acknowledged leader of media delivery solutions, today announced the availability of a satellite input for its ATSC 3.0 Digital Exciter, Teamcast Vortex II.

Teamcast Vortex II is an optimized and unique platform supporting both ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 terrestrial TV standards. It comes as a 1-RU rack exciter that features unique functionalities for a smooth and straightforward integration within a transmitter. Teamcast Vortex II’s new capability allows the exciter to receive an STL stream from a DVB-S/DVB-S2 satellite signal. Both GSE and MPE encapsulation are supported. The use of GSE encapsulation on a satellite link is very efficient, and reduces HTTP traffic overhead to approximately 2%.

“Network operators looking to distribute STL signals via satellite to a large number of transmitters will be very interested by this new feature”, said Gilles Toquet Product Manager at ENENSYS. “The full integration of the satellite demodulator within the exciter will contribute to both CAPEX and OPEX cost reduction for the network operator”.

“With this new feature, we follow our global strategy to maximize the added-value of our DTV exciter platform”, said Eric Pinson, Terrestrial Market Director at ENENSYS. ”The objective is to bring best-of-class solutions for the DTT, so that Network Operators can optimize their network implementation, reduce their total cost of ownership, and strongly position themselves in the DTT delivery, market cost-effectively.”

Today’s DTT signals use version 1.0 of the ATSC standards. It originated the switch from analog to digital TV, in the U.S. back in 1996. ATSC 3.0 is the latest version of the Advanced Television Systems Committee standard. It is approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and represents a major upgrade to OTV.

ATSC 3.0 includes features previously available only to cable and fiber TV. These include 4K UHD, high dynamic range (HDR), wide color gamut (WCG), high frame rate (HFR), high quality audio with Dolby AC-4 and 7.1.4 channel surround, customized IP-based interactive services, and better geo-targeting targeted advertising and more refined location-based public alerting. In addition to the picture and audio improvements, ATSC 3.0 also makes it possible to watch broadcast video on mobile devices like phones and tablets as well as in cars.